CHRISTMAS 2020: Santa's Pandemic.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by cgoodwin22, Nov 4, 2020.

  1. Scourge

    Scourge The Contagion in Nine Steps

    Location:
    US
    The flip side of that is Jonas Kaufmann: It's Christmas, which is not good, at least not for me; his tone in English is weak which is weird - he goes totally wrong but is really strong in the opera selections where he's not singing in English.
     
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  2. oskaraleman

    oskaraleman Forum Resident

    Location:
    ouisconsing, USA
    Yes...this is a great Christmas album...solid, skilled guitarist with a love for the genre.

    Recently released a real nice instrumental Beatle record too...(had to go there).
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2020
  3. Vinyl Kix

    Vinyl Kix Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glenwood, IA
    Here is an album (I only have it on CD) that gets a lot of playtime for me during the holidays!
    Crystal Lewis--Holiday! (2000) with the Peter Erskine Trio and some superb jazz-based Christmas tunes!
    [​IMG]
     
  4. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    What a hidden gem of a holiday album, and the artist was totally under my radar. I ordered the last new copy on Amazon (my apologies to all), but you can still get one on eBay, though it does not come cheap, if you desire a brand new copy. She even has a couple of songs with strings as well, gorgeously arranged by one of my favorite piano players, Alan Pasqua. I love the trio sound as well, being very familiar with the legendary drummer Peter Erskine (I got to learn his name from all those Michael Bublé albums, including his fantastic Christmas one. Check out her glorious, but subdued, version of O Holy Night, with a truly stellar piano solo from Pasqua at the 2:45 mark.

     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2020
  5. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Okay, here is another distinctive classic holiday album from the Golden Age. Christmas With Ronnie Aldrich features the twin pianos of the artist, with the equally stellar London Festival Orchestra. It ranks in the top 40 of the YuleLog.com's Top 500 Christmas albums. Take a Sleigh Ride below with the Ronnie and his twin pianos!

     
  6. Progatron

    Progatron Wealthy industrialist philanthropist & bicyclist

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    For anyone like me who finds appeal in the more somber and serious Christmas/winter music, I really like stuff like Nox Arcana and Midnight Syndicate. My wife finds a whole album of these pieces a bit gloomy, so I slot them in to a Christmas playlist and spread them out a bit.

     
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  7. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Crystal Lewis is a well known Contemporary Christian artist.
     
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  8. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Indeed she is Brad, but a lot of people, including myself apparently, are not aware of a lot of these fine and successful contemporary gospel acts until they crossover to some of the Billboard pop charts the way Lauren Daigle has in the last few years. I bet even some of Crystal's gospel fans might be surprised by her fine jazz chops that she uses on her marvelous holiday album as well.
     
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  9. Vinyl Kix

    Vinyl Kix Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glenwood, IA
    Here is a fun album I"m spinning right now!
    from 1979 John Denver & the Muppets!
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA

    Kind of an odd one, since it's a choir singing carols. Very different from the usual Sing Along with Mitch style.
     
  11. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Anybody who has read any of my previous posts knows that I am a huge fan of crooner and instrumental holiday music from the Golden Age, but I also love a true great rock 'n' roll holiday album when they come around once in a decade or so. Elvis Presley's two Christmas albums are both fantastic as is the Phil Spector holiday album, but here is a county music artist that can rock like Elvis on the great Charles Brown classic, Please Come Home For Christmas, Gary Allan. Unfortunately, he never made a full fledged holiday album, well neither did Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Tom Jones or Sam Cooke much to my dismay, but he did make this classic holiday gem come alive with his great country/rock interpretation. I wish Elvis himselfish would have gotten around to recording this standard. I just love the piano player that almost steals the show, as well as the great wah-wah guitar near the 2:00 mark. Oh yeah, I still love the Eagles great cover version as well, but this version by Gary Allan has become my go-to for this classic.

     
  12. Nogoodnik

    Nogoodnik Celebrity Jeopardy and Mini Crossword smart

    Location:
    Saint Paul, MN
    A couple of more "modern" favorites are below. Both are EPs.

    A good amount of Low's output is already what I would classify as hymn-like anyway. So, a Christmas release makes sense to me.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    I'm a fan of "O Holy Night" for a particular reason. My uncle recorded it on a 78 disc in his youth: one of those things you could record at a state fair, or a walk-in studio in a larger city. I've listened to it a few times in my youth, back before I was such a so-called cynic. It was a fine performance. I wasn't even singing at that time in my life, but you could clearly tell, he was up to the challenge.

    Uncle Paul was an opera fan, and singer, and was one of my father's two brothers and sister. The 78 stayed at my grandmother's house, where there was a bounty of 78's, as well as classical LP's.

    One day in the 1970's, while Grandmother was starting to slip, she did a nice thing for a neighbor who has just gotten a 78 record player: she set out a box of 78's on the porch for her. And, we don't know if Uncle Paul's disc was in there, but it was never located again. After a couple of our grandparent's basement floodings, a selection of 78's were found which belonged to my oldest uncle, and sat in his basement under the pool table for decades. I urged family members to at least look, but I've never heard if it turned up. Uncle Paul's son is a minister, and I can't help wonder if it means as much to him, as it did to me, knowing it might unknowingly exist somewhere within the family's junk. Ain't gonna find it on Discogs.

    I do know, if I'd had it...there would be a copy in every home of what remains of our family. I don't know of anybody in our family who had as much of an affinity for music as I have had over the years, as Uncle Paul, may he rest in peace.

    If ever there was a reason for me to have a nostalgic pull to Christmas music from my youth...this is a legitimate one.
     
  14. Low's Christmas album is an underrated gem.
     
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  15. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    What an awesome story and thanks for sharing it. I will always make the case that O Holy Night is the single greatest Christmas Carol ever written. The story and the melody can always seem to give me chills. I have never tired of listening to it.

    Forgive me if I am misremembering here, but are't you the one whose mother actually sang with Perry Como's backup singers at one time?
     
  16. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
  17. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Thanks. Sorry, no. She was a housewife, mother, and volunteer for the Women's Service League of our local hospital. No musical ability, except for knowing how good Johnny Mathis was when she heard him.
     
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  18. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    She sounds exactly like my mother, who could not sing a lick, but had the most extraordinary taste in music. She saw Elvis in 1956 on the Dorsey Brothers Show and yelled for my father, "You have to come in here and see this guy, he's incredible." She once got into an argument with one of my father's relatives because they thought Elvis was just going to be a "flash in the pan." She also worshiped that Johnny Mathis Merry Christmas album. She could really spot talent, and knew a great voice when she heard it, as apparently your mother did as well. My mother also routinely picked out the top 40 list for my father's radio station, The Mighty 690, in the late 50's.
     
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  19. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    christmas needs more guitars

     
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  20. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I do not think that Ella Fitzgerald gets enough radio play around this time of the year. Oh sure, almost everybody loves Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, but how many people play her second splendid holiday album, Christmas, wonderfully arranged by the previously mentioned Ralph Carmichael (Nat King Cole's conductor on The Christmas Song)? Ella dials it down a notch and sings all these sweet Christmas carols straight and without her usual jazzy flair, but they are sung so well and so effortlessly that you might not appreciate the true beauty and artistry of this fine album. I would say that there are dozens of music artists who have made at least one great holiday album, but how many do you know that made at least two? I would put Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Elvis Presley, Jack Jones, Percy Faith, Mantovani, Dean Martin, and Kenny Rogers in that rarefied company with Ella. How many artists can you list that made more than one fantastic Christmas album?

     
  21. AxiomAcoustics

    AxiomAcoustics "The enemy is listening"

    The Dreamers/John Zorn: A dreamer's Christmas

    Marc Ribot − guitars
    Jamie Saft − keyboards
    Kenny Wollesen − vibes, chimes, glockenspiel
    Cyro Baptista − percussion
    Joey Baron − drums
    Trevor Dunn − acoustic and electric Bass
    Mike Patton − vocals (1 Track)

    The only Zorn album you can safely pack along to your holiday gatherings that won't alienate or provoke protest? Possibly. One of my favorite albums of Christmas tunes played by a crack band of master musicians who also record somewhat regularly for Zorn's Tzadik label as "The Dreamers". A floating, yes 'dreamy' sounding effort with interpretive twists to hold one's interest throughout. Replete with sticker set to keep the kiddies occupied. The ending track features a straight (ish) vocal from Mike Patton. Good stuff.

    Check out their 'secular' releases as well.

    [​IMG]
     
  22. cgoodwin22

    cgoodwin22 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Severna Park, MD
    O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas tune. My favorite is Johnny Mathis' version. So beautiful!!
     
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  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I second your pick. Johnny Mathis's angelic voice and spectacular range, combined with Percy Faith's escalating and glorious string arrangement, simply cannot be topped to my ears.

     
  24. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I had asked feedback on his Beatle record earlier in the thread. Thank you
     
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  25. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    This Christmas will be all about hot boozy drinks and alone time with the wife!

     

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